


I'm Not The One Who Needs To Watch Their Back

by RomanoffOrcrist



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, Hurt Tony Stark, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-27
Updated: 2016-07-27
Packaged: 2018-07-27 00:28:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7596220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RomanoffOrcrist/pseuds/RomanoffOrcrist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The battle was over. Tony was alive, but stranded in Siberia. The next question was how to get out?</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'm Not The One Who Needs To Watch Their Back

The frigid air was accompanied by a biting wind. Snow covered the ground in a gray blanket as the moonlight shine down on it. A dusting of snow covered the concrete structure where Iron Man sat. Tony did not know just how long he had sat there after Steve and Bucky had left him. His suit was immobilized as was his mind. He was frozen. He had hardly thought a single thing as he sat in the freezing temperatures of Siberia. FRIDAY would have suggested he move by know, but she was disabled as was the suit. Tony struggled to digest everything that had happened. So he did not. Instead he sat numb, in the cold, his mind shutting down with his body. He was hardly aware of his condition, and he did not realize that he needed to move, that he needed to get out of there. He could probably repair his suit with materials from within the HYDRA base, if he would move. He gazed across the barren snow glossed ground. He felt so alone out here, in the dead of night, in the middle of nowhere, abandoned by one he used to consider a friend. The shield was all that remained of him. The shield that he had so readily given up for his childhood friend Bucky. Bucky who had killed Tony's parents. Tony felt no anger. He was past that. It had been a surge of rage and betrayal when he had attacked Steve and Bucky, but now all he felt was emptiness. 

Emptiness and loneliness were his existence. Nobody knew that he was even here save Steve and Bucky, who had been the ones to leave him. Rhodey could not get him for he was lying paralyzed in the hospital because of the stupid fight between the avengers. Tony grit his teeth. It was not supposed to go this far. They should not have fought at all. Tony had seen the accords as a way to keep the Avengers under control, instead it had been used to pit them against each other.  
Tony had broken the law of the accords by coming to Siberia. And he would not want Vision to go against the Accords by coming here and getting him. Besides, Vision was not JARVIS, and it was time Tony learned that.  
Natasha would not come for him for many reasons. First, she had defected. She had switched to Steve's side in the end. And Secondly, she had gone into hiding since helping Steve violated the Sokovia Accords. He wondered if any of them would see her again.  
The rest of the Avengers would not, save him, even if they were not looked up in a maximum security underwater prison.  
He had seen first hand what they felt about him: they hated him. Steve, Bucky, Clint, Wanda, Sam, Scott. He was an enemy to them.  
He had just been trying to do the right thing. To save the world, to protect the team, to keep the Avengers together. And he had failed. Anytime he tried he failed. He was wrong, always wrong. Ultron had demonstrated that, and now this, this Civil War that had happened. It was his fault too. He wondered why he even bothered.  
_I've seen colder._ All the Avengers dead, laying before him. He had seen it. And he had being trying with every living moment to keep his nightmare from coming true. Now he was living in a nightmare. The image of Steve with his shield raised flashed before his eyes. A sure kill-shot, he had been convinced. But it had not been. A rattle of metal echoed in his ears. The memory at least. Tony glanced over to the vibranium shield that lay on the ground. It's red, silver, and blue rings were raked with claw marks from the Black Panther. 

_My father made that shield. _What did it matter? Tony was not even sure why he had said that, for he did not lay claim for it that way. Perhaps he was intending to get Steve riled up, but why? He had just seen Steve viscously fighting him, why did he want more? Tony figured it was to get the last word in. To show Steve he did not win. Steve did not win the fight. None of them won this war, only survived.__  
That was all anybody ever did, he supposed. There was no victory, only survival. And Tony was going to make sure the Avengers survived, even if they did not care about him.  
He thought of Peter Parker, he had offered him money for his schooling, to explore his tech interests. He could not let him down.  
Rhodey. His best friend Rhodey. Paralyzed in a war Tony felt like he had dragged him in to, although in the back of his mind he knew he did not. But he needed to be there for Rhodey. He already began planning schematics for prosthetic legs to help Rhodey walk. He could help the few people he cared about, then he could get out of their way.  
Tony was beginning to feel the coldness in his head. He was in pain, from injuries left untreated, and new wounds; wounds that his suit could not protect him from. He forced himself to move. The dead suit was dragging a lot, so he pulled himself out of it. The cold air bit at his skin, but he tried to move swiftly to combat it. He dragged the suit on top of the shield further into the HYDRA base. He started pulling out wires and materials to mend his suit. The moon became covered by clouds, and Tony found that he could see little within the base in the moonless night.  
He heard a whirring noise outside, and was initially concerned, but realized there was little he could do to combat whatever might be out there. He moved behind a bulkhead to conceal himself, but had no time to move his suit or the shield. He was shocked by who he saw walk in. He was sure he was hallucinating.  
"Tony?" The voice called. It was no illusion. Tony tentatively stepped out into the open and was immediately identified. 

__"Natasha, what are you doing here?" Tony asked, confused for she had left him in favor of Steve._ _

__Natasha gave an amiable smirk, "Watching your back; I'm taking you home Tony."_ _

__"Why?" Tony could not stop the question.  
Natasha looked confounded for an instant but swept it away. "The cold must be getting to your head Tony, let's get you home."_ _


End file.
